I have had diabetes for 42 years and have been on an insulin pump for 10 years now. I don’t have any complications but over the years have had numerous serious hypo events. Two and half years ago, I passed out driving my car and totaled it. After that I switched doctors and was given permission to run higher numbers, looking at a 150 as right on track. Everything was going fairly well until two days ago. I did a glucose reading at dinner and it was surprising 412! The pump make a good call on how much insulin to take. Two hours later I was found unconscious. The paramedics recorded a 29 reading. Obviously something went wrong with my meter and I need to find the most accurate one available. Any suggestions? I know I didn’t have anything sweet on my fingers. The only thing that was different was that I had been dipping some sterling silver jewelry into a cleaning solution earlier that afternoon. Could that have thrown off the meter?? I have tested the meter, a BD Logic, against other meters and didn’t find anything off track.
I highly suggest wearing a cgm.
Wow 412 to 29!!! I agree with Toni a CGM may give you some feedback as to why you are having such rapid changes. It my fill in the picture better even if you get one from the doctor to wear for a week. Good luck and Happy Holidays!!!
Jan-
Do you have a good Certified Diabetes Nurse Educator? Or can you sit down with your doctor? If you used the wizard on your pump to “fix” the high, it sounds like your numbers need to be readdressed. I had to update mine about 6 months ago and it has made a world of difference. I had my carb ratios recalculated as well as my “sensitivity” level. I have a Minimed 522, but I’m sure that all pumps must have some variations on their “set-ups”.
wow! that’s dangerous!
everytime i have an unexplained high like that i check it again, maybe on a different finger, or not or maybe wait a few minutes and try again…i have had a few discrepancies on my pump (omnipod) lately…
Thanks for all the immediate support to my note, “I went low again.”. I don’t believe the 412 was real. I think that was the problem. I did not double test and I think my meter let me down. That is why I am inquiring as to the most accurate meter on the market. The only think that I can figure out is that afternoon I had my fingers all in a solution that cleans sterling silver. Maybe it threw things off. I tried the CGM. It was going to be my new life, my salvation from nightmare events. What happened in the month I wore it was that it was highly inaccurate. It would wake me up in the middle of the night telling me I had a problem. I would test and find myself in the normal range. It let a significant low go by unnoticed. I read the booklet more closely and learned that CGM works best for glucose scores in the medium range, in short, when you don’t need it. It couldn’t really be counted on for picking up highs or lows. Medtronic confirmed that. So I gave up on it for now until its more useful. I test a lot and try to keep my numbers in the upper 100’s. Jan
Hi Erin: Thanks to you and everyone for the support. I don’t know if this is true for other diabetics, but every so often unexpectantly my basal needs change. Numerous days go by and my numbers form a trend of being either too high or too low for just a few to most of the basal time frames and then I adjust. Maybe I lost half a pound or whatever. There is another factor that has complicated matters: subtle gastroparesis. I don’t have horrible symptoms but can’t count on digesting my food at the same rate all the time. Consequently, there are times when insulin is on board and the food isn’t yet but this is unpredictable. I try to adjust for this too. I give some foods like beans two hours on the pump. I have the same pump and did increase the sensitivity some time back with good results. I just can’t count on being alive. That is what it keeps coming back to. Every time I think things are going well I get plowed under again, at least every few years. I have lived virtually my entire adult life on a tightrope with no net under me. If I sneeze, I fall off. There are just too many tiny factors that can create a disaster despite all my efforts. I am considered a model patient by the way. I don’t dare do formal exercise. The results of that are that any time within 36 hours after exercise my metabolism will arbitrarily decide its time to kick in and level me with an big drop. Doctors and nurses don’t have a magic solution for this except to keep my numbers higher than normal. By the way, I don’t take a lot of insulin, around 10 for basal and my weight is perfectly normal. At 62, I look much younger. No one would be able to guess what I have been through by looking at me. O.k. so I’ve allowed myself to take a short pity party. Mostly I’m brave and happy but with you guys I’ve unloaded my burden. I always feel a little discouraged after a big low. It seems many diabetics don’t have this problem. I have to keep remembering that I don’t have bad complications. My eyes are near perfect and my heart and vascular system shocked the cardiologist with their perfection (no plaque at all). So I need to focus today on what I do have and be grateful. Jan